Founder’s Day and 29th T. A. PAI Memorial Lecture

President, Academy of International Education, Goa and Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka address the students of Manipal

TAPMI organized its 29th T. A. Pai Memorial Lecture in the memory of its founder late Shri T. A. Pai at Hotel Valley View on 17th January 2012. The Chief Guest for the evening was Dr. V. A. Panandiker, President, Academy of International Education, Goa, who delivered a lecture on innovation brought in by Shri T. A. Pai in banking & governance. Shri K. Jairaj , Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, was the guest of honour for the evening.

Dr. Vasudev Rao initiated the event by welcoming the guests. Dr. Rao acknowledged the contribution of Padma Bhushan awardee Shr. T.A.Pai who laid the cornerstone of TAPMI over 30 years ago. Dr. Rao recalled the vision of T.A. Pai which intended to give back to the society by creating similar employment opportunities. Noting the contributions of Shri Pai, Dr. Rao elaborated on roles of Shri Pai and Dr. Upendra Pai in forming Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited in 1925 named later as Syndicate Bank.

An awards ceremony was also held at the event where Dr Ramdas Pai, Chairman of TAPMI Governing Council, presented the awards to the employees of TAPMI who completed 10 and 20 years at the institute. The awardees included Ganesh Pujary – Office Staff, Dr. Simon George – Dean (Academics) and Mr. Narayana – Office Superintendent.

On this occasion, second issue of the quarterly alumni newsletter “ABHIJNA” was released by Shr. Jairaj. Dr. Gururaj Kidiyoor, PGP Chairman, who also happens to be an alumnus of the institute, received the copy of the newsletter.

Speaking on T. A. Pai, Dr. Panandiker elaborated on how in late 1960s the task of developing an acceptable social control of banking system was entrusted on T. A. Pai by Moraji Desai, the then Prime Minister of India. Dr. Panandiker appreciated the challenges taken by T.A.Pai in estabhishing a new paradigm in banking by making credit an instrument of banking and not the engine which Mr. Pai believed was entrepreneurship. Shri. Pai was of the opinion that money should be given to those who need it and not to those who already possess it. Dr. Panandiker emphasized the vision of T. A. Pai, which was to make the innovative social banking system sustainable. According to Dr. Panandiker the key lessons to be learnt from T. A. Pai’s contributions to Syndicate Bank, Konkan Railways, LIC of India etc. are innovation, creativity & clarity.

The audience at the event also got the opportunity to listen to another brilliant lecture delivered by the guest of honour Shri K. Jairaj on the topic – “Management & Bureaucracy: Are they Antithetical?”. Prof. Chowdari Prasad introduced Shri.K. Jairaj and underlined his achievements in academics and professional dimension. Shri. Jairaj in his lecture stated that today management and bureaucracy are converging together. He also highlighted that the convergence results in professional development. Shri. Jairaj appreciated the role of bureaucracy in maintaining consistent governance in all geographical locations across the nation. Shri. Jairaj identified several factors such as difference of ownership, clarity of objectives, human resource and organization structure where a better co-ordination was required between public and private enterprises to create a better India. The strenuous relationship between the political system and the public, said Shri. Jairaj has resulted in inefficiency. According to Shri. Jairaj, India could take inspiration from organization such as Indian Railways, Indian Postal System & ISRO in bringing about results that truly matters to the general public. He concluded his lecture by stating that the biggest challenge for the youth today is to foster a just durable economic social order in the country via efficient public-private partnerships.

The session culminated with a fruitful interaction between audience and the speakers.